Councillors said there were already too many restaurants in town.

"She is really trying it on this time," said town mayor Clr Jennifer Holbrook. "When will she give up?"

In last week's Knutsford Guardian, Ms Allinson unveiled her latest attempt - her fourth - to convert Vivi's in King Street into a restaurant or coffee shop.

She claimed no other business could make money in Knutsford.

"It is about time the council woke up to what's really going on in this town," she said.

"People have less to spend on clothes these days because they are buying mobile phones and going out more."

But her plight angered fellow trader Ken Andrew and many town residents.

"I would love to know just how aggressively she has marketed the shop," said Julie Tempest, a property consultant in Knutsford. "Just sticking up a sign with a phone number on it doesn't work in the current marketplace."

But Ms Allinson, who has another 12 years left on her 25-year lease, claimed a 'bad experience' had put her off selling her business through a retail agent.

"I have to make sure that the person who takes over the lease has enough financial backing because I will still have overall responsibility for it over the next 12 years," she said.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.